Hectic, and boring

Havent been blogging lately because of many things that are going on. How funny that while my life is hectic, with so may things going on, it's boring as well. It is kind of sad that I do not take much interest into whatever that I am doing now.

As usual, exams are around that corner (in 2 days, in fact). Studying this holiday has been... so unfulfilling (in accordance to my emotional level at least). I have not been able to enjoy myself, with the exception of the pre-u seminar - which allowed me to make a lot of friends and gain loads of experience (shall blog about this another time). 

I've just finished editing and am now printing this bunch of economics notes that I did with Joelle and Dion. So proud :'D hahahaha.

Right now, the few things that I have ahead of me are these:

- Common tests

- Guitar handover

- Sports carnival

- Some random workout with purple buds (if we have one)

- Movie outing (someday! I want to watch Man of Steel, Despicable Me 2, etc etc!)

- Catching up on my TIME mags

Anyway, during the holidays, I found a few songs that are really awesome and basically, I have been just listening to them over and over again this whole month :)

They are all found in my playlist (sry if some songs can't be played!) and here's some more to add on:

明明就 by Jay Chou

Brave by Sara (I dunno how to spell her surname)

Unchartered, also by Sara

Off to studying economics now!

PI

So, I have just completed my PI - it felt very last minute to me.
I had to change my topic at the very very last minute - although the content was basically the same, the way it was presented was different. Although I understand the purpose behind having the PI and PW component, I did felt rather frustrated at it because it was a long-term process that would undoubtedly cause some stress for us. However, PW in itself is a pretty good concept - emphasis on teamwork, consistency etc. I guess we just cannot have the best of both worlds.

Anyway, my PW experience thus far has been horrendous. Not to say that it was extremely terrifying or anything, but it did felt very different from anything that I expected. The question posed to us this year was also extremely different from the ones posed last year so we had basically, very little references that we could make use of.

Coupled with the fact that most of us just weren't sure of what to do and how to go about doing it.

Mine was a traumatizing experience because I started on a subject which I WAS interested in. However, as time went by and I started to do my PI, I started hating my subject because it was complex in strange manners. My PI was extremely hard to do because I felt like I had to address all these issues which were somewhat important for me to develop and define my scope. And yet, I could not find any ways to effectively define it. Instead my PI just got less and less clear.

Finally I changed my topic after discussing with my mum about potential topics. I was pretty satisfied with the topic because of my personal attachment to it due to some incident.  I started doing on it and thought I was doing okay until it came to the proposal. I could think of nothing new. STUCK.

So, today, I consulted the teacher and she wanted me to keep the content, but change the topic/question. I was literally STUNNED. In my mind, I was screaming at her, "Now?! You want to change it now?!"  It was the day before the submission. I was stunned and frantic because of her proposal. Although it did make my proposal abit clearer now (I guess), the way she put it across was just insensitive and shocking because it was just the day before. I mean, couldnt you have told me earlier?  D:

But anyway, I have already done it. So I am just hoping for the best now! I did take a kind of nonchalant and heck-care attitude towards PI these past few days because of various things that were going on, but I guess I realised that I dont want to make the same mistake as I did for my HCL O-level.

Holidays... and BOOKS.

The holiday is now half gone. More than half actually.... D:

School has been pretty okay, except for when there are tests - those moments are the worst, especially when you have one after the next.

Had a Bazooka outing two nights ago. It was really fun, just sitting over the table, complaining about our food HAHAHA. It was funny how we actually started out as the 'sch uni' club though LOLOL. Really missed talking to a group of people whom I am comfortable with :) 

Talked alot with Siyun yesterday also, while waiting for Dion to come ahahah. 

Anyway, main topic today is BOOKS. I had this impulse buying thing going on when I went to Compass point Popular on Wednesday. The member's 20% off sale was really tempting too. So I went to buy two books: Between the Lines by Tammara Webber, and Requiem (the last in the Delirium series!!) by Lauren Oliver.

Between the Lines was pretty good. I did feel embarrassed buying it because it just seemed like a love story that was like a teenage read. I usually buy books with more... meaning? hahah. Anyway, reading those books once in a while is good. The plot was pretty interesting, love triangles duh. But the context was slightly more cool - Hollywood. And even though it was in Hollywood, it didn't glamorize it in an exaggerating way. It did feel rather realistic, which made it a very interesting read! Surprisingly, I enjoyed it very much! Some excitement in my dull life I guess. Though I would definitely not buy such books again... probably hahaha.

So. REQUIEM <3 p="">

I posted a review on Goodreads. So I shall just paste it here:

Okay, this is really quite fresh in my mind because I have just finished it in about 30 minutes ago!

So... frankly, when I started reading Requiem, I was a bit lost because I read Pandemonium a few months ago and not every single detail of the book was fresh in my memory. Some weird names came up, and I just went 'Whatttt? Who's that?' My advice: It's okay, just go ahead, because as long as you know who the important characters are, the story can still go on pretty well.

The book is told from Lena and Hana's perspective, which makes for a very interesting plot. You see direct opposites of their lives (one is of the Wilds, the other is of the posh life of a wife-to-be of the mayor), however, there are also some similarities that come through as the book goes on. Both are dealing with personal struggles, and miss each other (whether unknowingly or not, especially for Hana). Anyway, I think it was refreshing for Lauren to put Hana's perspective across. I did talk about it in my review on my blog, so it was nice to see it happen :)

The book did feel a little slow in the beginning. I was actually more interested in Hana than Lena! Surprise surprise.What I did like was that Hana did not lose her zest. It was still there, just muted and hidden from everyone around her.Lena was much much stronger now. Physically, yes. Emotionally? Nah, not so much, although I'd agree that she went through some personal growth throughout the story. 

Oh, and while reading the book, you would just be SO MAD and frustrated at Alex. Because he was something like a sourpuss in this book. Hm... Was that the wrong word to use? Anyway, he's so cold... and confusing. I know where he's getting at, but Lena doesn't, HELLOOO? Someone give a mind reader to Lena because that would make everything alright.

Anyway, the Julian-Lena-Alex thing gets on my nerves, ever since it had appeared on the last page of Pandemonium. I was DREADING the love triangle, and wondering why on earth did Lena fall in love with Julian. Couldn't there just be Alex, ONLY? The love triangle does complicate things a little, but I am glad that Lauren doesn't JUST focus on that, she did talk about other things that were going on in the resistance, which was what I really looked forward to in this book. There was also a lot more exploration about the concept of love and the irony of it, which I loved. The stories (Solomon and the weird guy who killed women) were also nicely woven in and created some depth in the story.

Most readers would probably find the book slow at first. Don't give up! Continue and the pace picks up. Especially towards the end, YOU WILL BE SKIPPING WORDS JUST TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED. At least that was what happened for me! I was so EXCITED!!! It was like the grand finale! :DD Loved what Lauren did there = making me so anxious to find out what happened. Although I would have loved for Lena to play a more active role, like fighting/killing people, I guess it wouldn't be like Lena to do that either.

The ending was GOOD. SO GOOD. It did leave some uncertainty, but it was uncertainty at its best. You don't get a definite happy ending there, but you do know that somehow everything is going to work out fine.

Requiem did not disappoint me. It was a really exciting, well-written roller coaster ride that made me fall in love with the Delirium series again (especially after how I did feel abit disappointed after Pandemonium) :D

Really a great way to end off the series :)
~

So, overall, I really enjoyed reading those two books these past few days (around 3 to be exact). It renewed the sense of pleasure I got from reading books - I had almost forgotten what it felt like after months of reading TIME magazines and study notes. I think that I will always love books. No matter what :)

Now, it's time to catch up on my work!!! 

What happened recently

Hmm... I have not really been updating my blog. Think the last update was one month ago - this is what happen when schools start.

So, just an update on a few major happenings recently:

1. Group proposal consider in SMU competition (yay!! was a close shave)
2. Applied for Student Council - went for the SC boot camp
3. Got rejected for SC
4. Applied for OSAC
5. Got rejected for OSAC

Basically, what happened was that I think I got rejected a lot of times. D: But don't worry, I am not actually feeling that sad over all the rejections. 

I guess I wasn't that keen/enthusiastic over SC as some other people, so I thought that they deserved it better than me. I did go in being prepared to face rejection after all. However, it does make me feel a little depressed; this was my second time trying for SC after all. Being rejected twice is not something very nice :( Sometimes, I truly wonder what is lacking in me.

Hmm, mainly right now, I am just hoping that I can get into the pre-u seminar, maybe OCIP, and hopefully smu competition (tough luck to self though). 

Anyway, there was this recent hoo-ha over the Population White Paper.

Hmm, my truthful feelings about it?

7 million doesn't sound good. 

It's already such a squeeze at 5.5 million people, what more 7 million. Although the government promises that they will upgrade facilities, and ensure that there will be 'sufficient space' for everyone, we know that on this island, there is only so much you can fit.

I just read this article by Robin Chan talking about population stability rather than 'indefinite growth'. I agree with him on this point, because the government has always been talking about increasing our population and getting more people in, but they have never actually considered the idea of "when do we stop?"

I think that that is a very important question. The least the government can do is to give us a rough estimate of where the population of Singapore will stop at? Everyone's got to admit that it's got to stop at SOME point. I think that that is very important in crafting our future. This way, we know that our common goal is to achieve this certain amount of population, which we deem as sufficient and sustainable for Singapore's growth. There will be this common consensus.

Although the government say that 7 million is not a target that we will work towards - it's just an estimate, the fact that it's been published kinds of seals it as a 'target'. 

With regards to the building of more homes etc on Singapore, I hope that they will consider the idea of decentralisation seriously. The main reason why it gets so crowded on trains during peak hours is because everyone heads towards the same direction. The business hub is located at the centre of Singapore - so obviously, everyone will go there for work. The residential areas are also located near each other, making all the commuters travel from home to work, and then work to home, of which the direction of travel are mostly the same for everyone.

With decentralisation, it would ease the peak hour 'squeeze' since everyone would be going in different directions. Not everyone will have to squeeze onto one train line that goes in a certain direction.

Having more train lines is not going work when no one WANTS or NEEDS to use them. What we should do is build something along the train line that makes it a need for the people to take the trains. 

Assuming you have a new train line, but there are no offices located along the train line. Who will actually take the train during peak hours? How does that alleviate the issue of overcrowded trains on other lines? Only when you have an office built there, with people working there, then will it alleviate the issue of overcrowded trains, because it would have then DIVERTED traffic away from that train line.

So, more train lines is NOT THE SOLUTION. Stop saying that 'we plan to build more train lines to solve the overcrowding issue... blah' because it won't solve the issue. What will solve it is to spread out the areas for business 'hubs' to achieve a more uniform spread of traffic during peak hours.

Also, (as my parents mentioned to me), why is the government asking some middle-aged men what they think about the 7 million population? Their target audience, and hence the people they should be interviewing, should be US - THE YOUTHS. 

HEY, we are the ones that are going to be MOST AFFECTED by your Population White Paper. (We will be in our thirties in 2030) Why aren't you asking us for our opinions? It need not be done through televisions/very troublesome events. It can be done through simple channels such as the school. Simply have the school allow us maybe say, 1 hour to examine the White Paper, then have us answer a survey that reflects our level of satisfaction with the White Paper being proposed.

Such activities can be easily organised since a survey is already the very bare minimum. As the beneficiaries of the government's future policies, I believe we have a right to have a say in this as well.

It also increases the political awareness of the youths (and perhaps helps in our GP haha).

~

Anyway, Singapore is going to have a new line of COINS. 

The new set of coins are UGLY D:

Our current set looks nicer, and classier!! I will save some of the old coins as keepsake! :)